In the prior art of converting machinery, pull rolls are employed to draw the web out of a processing station. Where the station is a dryer, the pull roll is cooled so as to perform the dual function of pulling the web out of the processing station while at the same time cooling the web. It will be appreciated that in order to generate the required pull, the web must wrap around the roll for an appreciable portion of the circumference thereof.
When dealing with an adhesive coated web or a web with a very delicate surface coating which would be marred by wrapping around a cooling roll, not enough pull is generated from just a single roll contacting the back side of the web. In this circumstance, a vacuum pull roll is employed. Rolls of this type which are known in the prior art have a perforated surface through which a vacuum is drawn. This vacuum is usually limited to the region of the roll which is contacted by the web. However, when using such a vacuum pull roll in connection with a dryer, some other means must be provided to cool the coated web before it goes into a laminator, for example, in which it is laminated to a second web at room temperature since an attempt to combine the hot web with a cold web results in an inferior product.